A Preliminary Archaeological and Shallow Geoprospection of Two Basement Areas and One Exterior in New College, UGA Campus with an Appendix for Costs to Conduct Archaeological Oversight of Removal of Rubble Remaining

On July 22nd and July 23rd, at the request of the Office of University Architects(OUA) , graduate and undergraduate students from my summer field course in Shallow Geophysics, GEOL 4660/6660,carried out ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in two basement areas of New College. These areas will be called (I) the utility area and (2) the "hall" as well as outside the rear of the building. The interior areas were filled with rubble fill dating back to the construction of the present building (ca. 1830) and were being excavated by contractor crews carrying out the current building renovation. The exterior area had been covered by a concrete pad for building utilties. This concrete pad had been removed as part of the renovation. The work crews notified OUA of artefacts being found in the course of their removal of the interior rubble fill. OUA contacted me and we examined the finds as well as two structural features - a stone "walkway" and a brick flooring (Figs. 1 & 2). The walkway was found at the current entrance to the utility portion of the basement. The walkway had been discovered after the contractor had removed the concrete floor in this portion of the building's basement. The brick flooring feature was uncovered by crews excavating the hall portion of the basement. After inspection of these two structural features, it was deemed useful to carry out an emergency archaeological survey and geoprospection attempting to determine the exact nature and spatial extent of the features. Likewise the artefacts recovered would be curated and studied for clues as to their relationship to New College's past as a principal building on the UGA campus, originally constructed in 1819, destroyed by fire in a1830 and rebuilt that same year. Following these efforts, OUA asked for a cost estimate for removal and study of the rubble remaining in the basement after contract obligations had been met under the present renovation contract.